


Interlude: R. U. Ready?

by oceanbluecas



Series: Backward Sweethearts [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Arranged Marriage, F/M, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 16:24:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10031684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceanbluecas/pseuds/oceanbluecas
Summary: Newlyweds Cas and Dean get a little help from their friends.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to my lovely betas, [GeekPrincess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeekPrincess), [sixxstiel](http://archiveofourown.org/users/sixxstiel), and [Areiton](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Areiton). Any remaining mistakes are my own.

The taxi had been cramped, their long legs pressed against the backs of the front seats for far too long. Castiel stumbled out of the door with an air of relief, and Dean was right behind him. It felt good to be able to stretch, and he moaned as he did so while Dean paid the driver. The car pulled away, and they were left alone on the dirt road under the starlight.  
   
“C’mon,” Dean said, tugging at Castiel’s elbow. “It’s not too far from here.”  
   
Castiel wrapped the small blanket he carried around his shoulders and followed his husband further into the countryside. It was the only item they’d brought with them from Maui aside from their wallets and phones. Dean walked ahead of him in sandals and sweatpants, a hoodie protecting him from the cool Kansas air. Castiel curled his toes against the chill, his own sweatpants and t-shirt not doing much to warm him. He didn’t regret their spur of the moment decision to abandon Marv, their pre-planned honeymoon, and all the expectations their families held them to, but he wished they’d been a little more prepared for traveling. If anything, he really wanted to brush his teeth. It’d been two days, and airport bathrooms could only do so much to help with hygiene.  
   
Hurrying to catch up, Castiel fell into step beside Dean. “Are you certain no one will notice?”  
   
Dean grinned at him, confident. “I’m sure they will, but by then, it’ll be too late. We’ll be long gone.”  
   
“And you’re sure—”  
   
“Jess won’t rat us out. We can trust her,” Dean assured him.  
   
Castiel huffed, listening to the gravel crunching under his feet. There was a calm breeze rustling the trees and tall grass around them. Fences lined both sides of the road, crop fields to their left and a cattle pasture on their right. As they walked on, the bare acres faded into woods and when they turned down another road, what had to be Winchester Ranch came into view. It lit up the hill it sat upon, far back from the road. A private drive started from behind a brick wall and iron gate and ended at the enormous house. Other buildings were spread out across the property, including a barn, a greenhouse, a separate garage, and a few other, smaller houses.  
   
“It’s not really a ranch,” Dean said, eyes on his home as they approached. “They just call it that so we have an excuse to live in the country. Mom likes it here.”  
   
“Then why do you have a barn?” Castiel asked, curious.  
   
Dean laughed. “Mom rides horses. The greenhouse is for Grandma Campbell, ‘cause she likes to cook with fresh vegetables when she can. The garage was built for Dad, but he never uses it anymore. The other houses are for some of the staff, the ones that don’t live in the house.”  
   
“Do your grandparents live with you, too?”  
   
“Yeah,” Dean said, “Mom’s parents do. Dad’s mom passed away before we made it big. Grandpa Winchester likes it in the city, but he visits a couple times a year.”  
   
“It’s strange to me,” Castiel admitted, reaching a hand out to run his fingers along the brick wall as they neared the gate. “My grandparents live abroad, on different sides of the world. My father stays in our vacation home in Florida more often than not, and out of all seven of my siblings, only three of us still live at home.” He smiled at Dean and shrugged. “And yet, here’s your family, all living under the same roof.”  
   
“It’s not like we don’t have issues,” Dean said, finally tearing his gaze away from the house. “I know we seem like a happy family in the magazines and—”  
   
Castiel snorted. “My family has enough of a false public image that I don’t believe everyone else’s, either.”  
   
“True,” Dean said, “but we could be worse. The men of the family don’t really get along. Grandpa’s _still_ mad at Dad for marrying Mom, and Dad and Sammy butt heads a lot, but they love each other, too, y’know? Mom and Grandma are probably the only thing that keeps the three of them from shootin’ each other. Then there’s Grandpa Winchester. He just doesn’t know how to handle it all, so he stays away and shows his love by sendin’ us things.”  
   
“And where do you fit in?” Castiel asked, watching Dean press the buzzer beside the gate.  
   
“I dunno. I guess I—”  
   
“Dean!”  
   
A small wrought iron gate to the side of the main one, tucked into the brick wall, flew open and a woman burst out onto the road. Her arms flew around Dean’s shoulders, hugging him tightly, her blonde ponytail still swinging as she released him and turned to Castiel.  
   
“Unf,” Castiel grunted as she pulled him, too, into a tight hug. “Hello. You must be Jessica.”  
   
Jessica Moore stepped back and smirked at him, eying him from head to toe and back up again. “You’re pretty in person, too,” she declared, then looked at Dean. “I thought it was all just Photoshop in the wedding pictures, but damn, you lucked out, Dean.”  
   
Castiel felt his face heat up in a blush, ducking his head when Dean laughed. “Hell yeah, I did.”  
   
“Okay,” Jessica said, clapping her hands decisively. “So, no one knows you’re here but me ‘n’ Garth, so you guys are gonna have to be really quiet. He’s got—”  
   
Castiel cocked his head, interrupting. “You didn’t tell Sam?”  
   
Jessica blinked. “No?”  
   
“Isn’t he your sweetheart?”  
   
Hands on her hips, Jess sighed. “He is, and I love him, but Dean asked me not to.”  
   
“Sam would just try to bring me back,” Dean said, giving her an apologetic look. “You know he would’ve.”  
   
“He does things by the books,” she conceded, “He would rather you rebel in the open than be all sly about it.”  
   
Castiel frowned. He didn’t want he and Dean to come between Sam and Jess, though he barely knew them. He’d met Sam briefly at the wedding, but this was his first encounter with Jessica. She seemed intelligent, confident, and determined. It was like there was a fire inside her, with the way she looked from Dean’s concerned face to the house, the small light from the lamp hanging off the wall illuminating her features. Her boots were muddy, jeans frayed at the hem, and her flannel hung loosely around her frame, barely concealing the gloves sticking out of her front pocket. She was the hired help, the only stable worker, yet she was madly in love with the youngest Winchester heir. Her relationship with Sam was disapproved of by both Campbells, outright rejected by Henry and John Winchester, but somehow, she’d managed not only to hang onto her job, but to boldly fight for her right to be with Sam. More so, they did it in the light of day, side by side, and she endured the full brunt of it.  
   
Jessica Moore was a kind, strong woman. She deserved better.  
   
“Please don’t lie to Sam for our sake,” Castiel blurted out, surprising himself perhaps more than the other two.  
   
“Cas, she’s—”  
   
“Don’t you dare try to speak for me, Dean Winchester,” Jess said sternly. She turned to Cas with a smile, softer than before. “Thanks for the concern, but don’t worry about us. I’ll tell Sam as soon as you’re gone. He’ll understand, I promise. He’s a rebel in his own way, just different. He won’t like it, but he’ll get it.”  
   
“I don’t want to cause any stress in your relationship,” Castiel said, still unsettled.  
   
She laughed, voice a little too loud in the quiet of the night, but something about it calmed Castiel’s nerves. She lightly punched his shoulder. “Don’t worry ‘bout us. It’ll take more than this to make us fight. Besides, he loves Dean, too, y’know. Even if he doesn’t like it, he’ll be happy that I helped his brother out.”  
   
“True story,” Dean added, “Or it will be, anyway.”  
   
Satisfied by her response, Castiel allowed himself to be lead onto the property, Dean on his heels. They stayed off the concrete drive, sticking instead to the shadows of the trees lining it. As they climbed further up the hill, Dean whispered to him, pointing out things as they passed. There was the house of Bobby Singer, resident mechanic to the cars John liked to collect, as well as the farm equipment. There was Jess’s house, and the one Garth, the grounds keeper, shared with Bess, his wife and the gardener. Horses slept in the barn as they crept by, visible through the slightly ajar door, where Jess had come from. The garage was further off, dark this time of night, but for a small light in a window.  
   
“That’ll be Garth,” Jess said, leading them up a worn track toward it. “He should be finished packing the car by now, but you guys can check to be sure everything’s there before you leave.”  
   
Dean opened the door nestled in the side of the building for them, and they slipped in.  
   
“Garth!” Dean called out, only to be engulfed in another hug moments later. As they separated, Castiel was granted a good look at their midnight accomplice. Garth was a scrawny man, a little goofy looking, and not at all like the groundskeeper Castiel had imagined, but the friendly smile and warm embrace he gave Castiel endeared him to the newlywed.  
   
Cas had met neither of these people at the wedding, and while he didn’t _dislike_ Dean’s family, he found these two much more amiable. He liked them.  
   
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Castiel said, shaking the man’s hand.  
   
“Great to meet you, too, Mr. Winchester-Novak,” Garth answered. He chattered enthusiastically as he took them through the garage. “I got the car ready for y’all. She’s all gassed up, oil changed, all that. Had a hell of a time sneaking around Bobby, but I don’t think he suspected a thing.”  
   
Jess snorted. “Or he did, and he just doesn’t care.”  
   
“That’s an option, too, Miss Jess,” Garth laughed, hauling his lantern up to reveal a hulking black car in the dark. The light reflected off it’s smooth surface, the chrome detailing bright in the dark.  
   
“This,” Dean said, grinning proudly at Cas and patting it’s roof, “is Baby. Isn’t she gorgeous?”  
   
Castiel was far from a car person, but even he had to admit that the vehicle in front of him was impressive. It stood out from the other classic cars in the garage, as well. They were just as shiny, just as well cared for, but they lacked the surreal sense of _home_ he got from the Impala before him. It was ridiculous, but he felt a strange kind of connection to the black beauty.  
   
“She is,” Castiel sighed, oddly content. “Is this the one you were telling me about?”  
   
“Yeah,” Dean said, eyes soft as he ran his hand over the hood. “Found ‘er in a scrap yard in terrible condition and rescued her. Bobby and I rebuilt her from the ground up. Took us years, ‘cause we started before we got rich. I’ve spent more time with this car than I have in any house.”  
   
Garth popped the trunk open and motioned towards the bags in it. “I did what you asked, Dean, and I threw in the cooler, too. There’s some beers, and Bess made y’all some sandwiches for the drive. Your cassettes are in a box under the passenger seat, and there’s a GPS and map in the glove compartment.”  
   
“Awesome,” Dean said, unzipping the bags and checking through them, one by one.  
   
Castiel stood back, watching the three discuss plans and riffle through the car’s contents by light of Garth’s lantern. Cas felt a small bit of excitement to be there, sneaking around under the cover of night, making secret plans to run away and do his own thing. It was thrilling, beginning his own little adventure, rebelling against his oppressive family to find happiness. It wasn’t anything grand, like a trek across a continent, and no lives were at risk, no damsels to rescue or heroism to make claim to, but it was his, and it was exhilarating.  
   
Dean looked up then, grinning at him from under the hood, and Castiel’s breath caught.  
   
It was _theirs_.  
   
Castiel felt something warm in his chest with the knowledge that he wasn’t doing this alone. It was daunting, surely, to disobey his family’s wishes and act out so strongly against them. The Miltons were all about image and status. Business ventures and financial gain motivated them, because it helped them to maintain the lifestyles they’d been born and raised in. Two of Castiel’s older siblings had acted out, and both were subdued—Anna married to an influential woman named Ruby, and Gabriel shipped off to an heiress named Kali in India. Neither hated their lives, but when Castiel saw them, he could see the regret on their faces. They’d wanted to live fuller lives, and here Anna was, pregnant with her second child already, and Gabriel, while happier than Anna, hadn’t set foot on American soil in years.  
   
Castiel didn’t want that for himself. He didn’t want to be married off as a punishment, or as a way to control him, by being guilted into fulfilling some obligation to his family. Michael and Lucifer had chosen their spouses and were content. Hannah and James had volunteered, and seemed much more happy for it. Castiel had chosen the route of the willing, if only so he could have some sort of control—or the illusion of it, at least—and had been pleasantly surprised to find _Dean_ on the other side of it all.  
   
It was Dean—who was cocky and self-assured, but more honest than anyone Castiel had ever encountered—that had inspired Castiel to take that final step. The marriage had been a leap of faith, or maybe desperation, but it was by no means an escape. Dean’s breaking point, when he’d abandoned the lies and the pretenses, had been critical moment that solidified Castiel’s decision to abandon it all. Dean had unfurled something within Castiel that yearned for free expression and limitless horizons. He could feel himself changing, molding to fit his new worldview, and it was like a breath of fresh air.  
   
The Milton family may have saved the Winchester family, but Dean had saved Castiel.  
   
Jess giggled and Garth sputtered as Castiel startled them all by swooping in and kissing Dean. His husband hummed into the liplock, making the kiss awkward and uncoordinated as his lips twisted up in a bright smile. Hands slid down from Castiel’s shoulder blades to rest at his lower back. His own arms slid around Dean’s shoulders and he pressed his cheek to Dean’s neck, pleased with it all.  
   
“What was that for?” Dean said, amusement clear in his tone.  
   
Castiel shook his head and shrugged simultaneously. “Nothing. I just wanted to.”  
   
“Aw,” Garth cooed, “Y’all are the cutest. Reminds me of when me ‘n’ Bess got married. We was all sorts o’ sweet on each other.”  
   
“You still are,” Jess teased, nudging Garth with her elbow.  
   
Castiel separated himself from Dean, pleased to see a blush on his husband’s face, though Cas’s own cheeks were warm with one, too. “We should go,” Castiel said, “I don’t want to risk getting caught.”  
   
Dean nodded and snapped the hood shut. “Sure thing, sweetheart.”  
   
They said their goodbyes with teasing words, swears of silence, and more hugs. Castiel enjoyed the cool press of leather as he took his seat next to Dean. Jess left to open the gate while Garth lifted the garage door and waved them out. In an effort to remain unnoticed by ranch’s inhabitants, Dean kept the headlights off, the moonlight more than enough to guide their way down the drive. The gentle rumble of the Impala serenaded their escape as they pulled onto the road and waved goodbye. Jess and Garth under the wall by the lamp, seeing them off with smiles and waves of their own.  
   
“We’ve got a bit of a drive ahead of us,” Dean said, once they were far enough away that he could flip the lights on and increase to a reasonable speed, “Wanna listen to some tunes?”  
   
Castiel nodded, remembering Garth’s mention of cassettes under the seat. He read down and pulled out an entire box of them. “There’s so many…”  
   
Dean grinned. “I’m proud of my collection. Had most of those since I was a kid. Pick whatever you like.”  
   
Cas dug around in the box for a bit before selecting one. He slid it into the tape player and hit PLAY. Music filled the cab, and the delighted expression on Dean’s face was exactly was Castiel had been hoping for.  
   
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Dean said, reaching over to slide his fingers between Castiel’s. “Good choice. This marriage may just work out, after all.”  
   
Castiel quirked an eyebrow and smirked, but betrayed his aloof reaction by squeezing Dean’s hand. “Indeed.”  
  
Over the speakers, a chipper melody filtered through, an upbeat vocalist singing, “ _Are you ready to rock? Yes, I am._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> The song at the end is _R. U. Ready 2 Rock?_ by Blue Oyster Cult. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed, please tap that kudos button! （ っ◜◡◝）っ*✲ﾟ*｡⋆❤


End file.
